Vehicle-wheel.



6.11; FoRsYTH.

VEHICLE WHEEL.

APPLlcATIoN F1150 111121.11114.

25 Imca/0 v against lateral stresses; the

- a lcitizen of the United States,

with the felly' or riml whereby disadvantaspokes.

sA'rgEs PATENT ernten."

GEORGE H. FonsY'rH, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AssIGNon' To .ro'nsYrHBROTHERS COMPANY, 0F GHICAGO,` ILLINOIS, .A CORPORATION OF mLnvoIs.;

VEHICLE-wenn..

' Speicationef Letters Ptent Patentedv theme11@ 1918# applicati@` meaJanuary 21', 1914. serial No. 813,476.

To all wltdm z't may concern.' l Be it known that I, GEORGE H.Fonsr'rrr,

residing atv Chicago, in the county of Cook `and State of Illinois, haveinvented vcertain new and useful Improvements in Vehicle Wheels, ofwhich'the following is a specication.

- 'The invention relates 'to pressed metal wheels and particularly ofthat general type wherein' two similar halves each comprising centralhub and radial spoke and peripheral rim`portions are placed side by side1n opposition with the spoke members of one half overlapping toa reateror less extent the corresponding spo e ,members of the other half, andthe halvesthen secured together to form a complete' wheel.

The Object of. the invention is to provide a pressed metal wheel ofimproved construction which shall possess the highest degree of strengthand resistance to strains and shocks applied either in the plane of' thewheel or atan angle thereto and which shall at the same time embodysimplicity of manufacture and economy of metal employed with aconsequent low cost of production.

The wheel isv particularly adapted for use in connection with theconstruction of motorvehicles and for such'purposes is preferably madeof pressed steel although 'obviously. it vcould be advantageously usedin other connections where metal other." than Steel would be foundsuitable.

`Among the important features of the in vention are the' uniting ofthespoke halves in such manner as to strengthen the spokes provision ofoverlapping fillets at the o'lntsof emerence ofthe spoke members om thecentral ub portion and( also their'points of merger geous weakening ofthe metal at these points* 1s' avoided; also the adaptation of asheetmetal wheel to detachable and demountable tires and rims by theprovision of a removable rim portion supported-not onlyby the yfelly,butI by fillet engagement with4 the Other .details -of improved.construction which will hereafter be made manifest constitute oftheiinprovedwheel a decided advente in this, are fram the Stand eine of-fac strength, neatne and low costo manu? sarily limiting the invention.In the drawlon the line 2 2 of 'line of the strips and including a Inorder that the inventionmay be read- 1ly understoodl a 'preferred'embodiment of' the same is set' forth in the accompanying drawing and.in the following detailed description based thereon. ,'As, however, the

invention-is susceptible of embodiment in'- drawing and description areto be construedl 1n an'lll'ustrative sense and not as unneces-y ing:

Figure'l is al side elevationiof a wheel constructed-.according to theinvention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a similarview taken on the. line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

- Fig. 4-is a transverse section taken on the The wheel as illustratedis manufactured bypunching and pressing from two circular blanks ofsheet mletal, the blanks beingv punched to from, these strips beinconnected'at their: outer ends by a perip eral web 12. The radial stripsare left'integral with thel central disk and' the eripheral webe'alongtheir -medial portion on y,

16 which extend from the central portion of v the diskradially and thesemi-tubular formation of which continues along the medial' the web'.TheP inner ends of the semi-tubu slightly flared so as to. mergeeachfw-ith the 'ad]acen't rib, as indica wings formingl'the marginal.portions of the l strips are furt er benbto form-a substantial l.'continuation 'of the semi-tubular medial" portionand thus constitute ofthe strips spoke members of a modifiedgU-cross section.

The two blanks .from willich the two wheel other and variedconstructional forms the f provide a central disk portion 11 `w1thintegral strips extending radially theref at 17, while the outer ends ofthe semi-tu ular medial porymerge along a curved line with the web, as

halves are formed may-be exact duplicates, l

but preferably one ci the disks is slightly larger 'than the other sothat when by an appropriate pressing operation the outer portion oi? theweb 12 is bent laterally at right angles to form the tire supportingpor.-

tion of the rim, as indicated at 19,v an inte- Y ment for a removabletire-retaining flange.

vse

ln the pressing operation by which the U- shaped spoke members areformed, the lateral wings 14 of one set of spokes are so bent as to forman exact continuation of the curvature of the medial portion, while thewings 15 of the other set of spokes are slightlyl odset inwardly thethiclniess of the metal, as clearly shown in Fig. ll, so as to resent anouter shoulder- 21 whereby when the two halves of the wheel are placedtogether side by side the inwardly odset wings of one spoke member willbe embraced within the wings of thev `correspondingrr spoke lmember ofthe other half, which wings are not odset, while the edges of the latterwill .f abut against the shoulders 21 thus insuring.

a snug fit and forming a completed spoke,

the members 22 and 23 ot which possess an outer surface which issubstantially unbroken.

The two disks having been provided each with a central aperture themarginal portions thereof are inwardly danged at 24 so as to bearagainst the vhub proper 25 when the latter is inserted within suchcentral aperture, with the hub faceplate 26 overlying one of the disks,and the removable face plate 2'( overlying the other. Bolts 28 arearranged at intervals about the hub and serve to secure the hub portionsoit' the disks. together by' clamping the same between the face plates.Spacing spools 29 having upset shoulder portions are traversed by thebolts and thus prevent collapsing'of the hub p0rtion of the wheel. Theoverlapping marginal portions 14 and 15A of the spokes are permanentlysecured together and advantau eously byl spot welding, as indicated at30.

he web portions 12 constituting the telly ot the wheel are alsopermanently secured together as by spot welding.

.By the provisi taining Harige 20 upon one side only of the wheel, aspreviously described, the wheel is adapted for detachable tires ordemountable rims. 'llo this end the removable tire-re- J@taining an'gemember is provided, which is likewise pressed from sheet metal .and com--prises the tire-retaining Harige 31, formed on of an integral' tire-reireceive fiiponthe/ rim section 32, which is flanged at rightangles at 33to it against the side face of the telly 12 upon that side ot the wheelopposite the flange 20. rlhe portion 33 of the removable ange member issecured to the telly 12 by means of bolts 34 arranged intermediate thespokes and at points corresponding to the spokes is outwardly curved.

. to half envelop the outer end of the spoke and form a snugengagementtherewith, as indicated at 35. Along the line of junctionbetween the dange 31 and the rim section 32 the removable flange memberis odset, as-

tire-retaining'flange 31 engaging the other bead 38 of the tire and thebolts 34a are secured in place. The adaptation `of the wheel to ademountable rim, as illustrated in Fig. 3, is substantially the same asthat just described except that the annularl band 36 is replaced by thedemountable rim 39 with which the tire' 37 has b/ee/n previouslyassembled. ln both cases the support of the removable rim section by theside of the telly, by the inner face of the rim,- and by yits envolpinengagement with the spoke insures sucient rigidity which is nototherwise possible with a sheet metal construction.

A partial enveloping of one spoke member l v by another in the mannerdescribed as forming a part` of the present invention, provides acompleted spoke 'which has double walls oppositel disposed in the medialplane of the whee so that the spokes of the wheel are reinforced againstlateral stresses and the wheel is materially strengthened at the pointwhich is otherwise the weakest. By the provision of fillets at thepoints of emergence of the spokes from the central hub pore tion and a-ttheir points of merger with the rimv portion abrupt angles are avoidedand points is safe-guarded against. Moreover,

the overlapping of these/ fillets, as clearly. shown in Figs. 2 and 3,provides for a close .'tion' 15 may be. rovided uniformly on-onel halfof' the whee ll :End it advantageous to so odset the marginal portionsofthe spoke members alternately upon each half that the same die may beused for pressing both halvesand by having the inner portions disposedin alternation upon successive spokes 13o 115 -the liability of themetal to tear at these vthe Wheel isabsolutely symmetrical and itsresist-ance to 1stresses from A either ,side is uniform. l.

I claim:

l. A ressed metal Wheel comprising integral rlm and 'spoke portions, therim having ali-integral tire-retaining'ange on one `side thereof andcaremovable tire-retaining.'

fiange detachabl secured' to the rim upon Vthe other side t ereof,substantially as de scribed.

2. A pressed metal wheel comprising ntegral rim and spoke portions, therim having an integral tire-retaining flange on' one vside thereof and aremoval tire-retaining ange detachably secured to the rim u on the otherside thereof, said removable tireretaining flange having portions halfenveloping the outer ends of the spokes, sub- -stantially as described.l

3. A pressed metal wheeleomprising similar halves eachfinclndingintegral'frim, hub

having .anintegral tire-retaining flange and 'a removable tire-retainingange detachably .secured to the. other r1m portion, substantially asdescribed. 1

4. A pressed metal wheel comprising simi lar `halves each includingintegral rim, hub and spoke portions, one' of the rim portions havinganintegral tire-retaining flange and a removable tire-retaining flangedetachably secured to the other rim portion, said rem movabletire-retaining flange having channeled portions half enveloping theouter ends of the spokes, substantially as described.

In. testimony whereof I have hereunto signed -my name in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

LEWIS T. GREIST, i T. D. BUTLER.

and spoke portions, one of the rim portions

